George de laval



Nn. 627,304. Patented :une zo, |899. a. DE LAVAL.

STEAM ENGINE FOR DIRECT ACTING PUMPS.

(Application filed Aug. 9, 189B.)

(No Model.)

GEORGE DE LAVAL, OF CAMBRIDGE,

MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO rIiHE GEO. F. BLAKE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

STEAM-ENGINE FOR DIRECT-ACTING PU'MMPS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No.` 627,304, dated rune 2o,` 18.99.

Application filed August 9, 1898. Serial No. 688,160. (No model.)

T all whom, t may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE DE LAVAL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cainbridge, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Steam-Engines for Direct-Acting Pumps, of which the following is a specification.

In almost all instances the steam passing ro to the pumping-engine comes through Aa pipe leading down from above and the exhaust passes oif through a pipe leading up from the engine. In enginesforpumpsthathaveheretofore been constructed it has been usual to I5 connect the steam-supply pipe to the top of the valve-chest and to take off the exhaust at either one side or the other of the valvechest or of the cylinder below the valve-chest. This has rendered it necessary to provide the 2o exhaust-pipe with an elbow or bend and to make two openings, one at'each side of the valve-chest or cylinder, so that one side or the other can be connected to the exhaust-pipe, according to which is most convenient in fitting up the engine.

The object of the present invention is to dispense with the lateral connections and elbows, especially for the exhaust-pipe, and to provide for taking off the exhaust from above 30 the steam-chest, and the parts are arranged so as to use two adjacent steam-cylinders and one valve-chest for the two cylinders, and the present improvements are particularly available in cases where the valves are moved by 3.5 a direct connection from the cross-head.

In the drawings, Figure 'l is a longitudinal section of the engine-cylinder and valve-chest near the line 2 2, Figs. 2, 4, and 5. Fig. 2 is a cross-section at the line 3 3, Fig. l. Fig. 3

4o is a longitudinal section between the enginecylinder and through the valve-chest at the line 4t 4, Fig. 2. Fig. et is a plan view of the engine-cylinders and valve-seats. Fig. 5 is a separate plan view of the valve-chest and valves, and Fig. 6 is a plan view of the cover for the valve-chest.

The cylinders A and B are cast together, and they are provided with the valve-seats 3 i and with steam and exhaust ports in the valveseats,asusual. Ihave,however, represented two sets of ports 5 5 and 6 6 as passing to thel respective ends of the cylinders and with the `eXhaust-port' in the middle. Thevalves C are to be of any desiredcharacter. Usually they are D slide valves with ,valve-rods D 55 passing out through the glands or stuffingboxes E at the end of the valve-chest F. The special feature of my invention applies to this valve-chest F and to the exhaust-port that is cast with the cylinder and connects with the '6o exhaust through the valve-chest.

It will be apparent that 'the cylinders form the bottom, and the valve-seat substantially 'the,top, of an exhaust-chamber into which the ports 7 open, and the steam-ports 5 and 6 are 6 5 passage-ways with separating-partitions cast between the valve-seats and the ends of the cylinder. Y

Instead of the exhaust-pipe passing oif at either one side or the other of this exhaust 7o chamber I provide an opening at 8 up through the top of the chamber and below and between the stuffing-boxes E of the valve-chest, and I also make through the valve-chest an openn ing at 9, whichis a continuation upward of the opening 8, and the valve-chest F has a hollow projection 10 at the rear, with an opening ll through the top of the projection. Hence the steam-pipelG is connected at the opening Il and the exhaust-pipe H is connected at the 8o opening 9, both of'them being at the top of the steam-chest F, and there is a cover I to A the steam-chest, and the bolts 12 pass through the cover and into the plate containing the ports and forming the valve-seats. 8 5

It will now be apparent that the surface of the valve-seats and the surrounding surface upon which the lower edge of thesteam-chest rests can all bein one plane, and hence the surfaces can be dressed or finished off smoothly 9o with facility, and the lower edge of the valveohest can also be finished oit in one plane and the topsurface of the valve-chest can be finished off in another and parallel plane, so as to receive the vcover I and the pipes Gand H, which may either be screwed into the openings or connected by fianges and bolts 13 11i, and when the cover of the steam-chest is removed the steam-chest itself may be loosened from the cylinder and valve-seats, so as to roo be removed to give access to the valves, either within the valve-chest or as they may set upon the valve-seats, the chest being removed. By this construction the parts are reliably connected with very little labor, or they can be disconnected andy access obtained easily to the valves, and the exhaust-pipe and the steam-pipe are both connected to the steamchest, and bends and lateral connections to the exhaust-pipe are avoided and the expense of construction materially lessened, because the exhaust is brought vertically and directly through the steam-chestv at the opening 9, thereby enabling both the exhaust and the steam-pipes to be connected directly to the val ve-chest instead of to the engine-cylinders.

I claim as my inventiony 1. The combination With the engine-cylinder and the vflat valve-seat upon the same having an eXhaustport opening downwardly through the seat into the chamber below, of a separate valve-chest resting at itsl lower edge upon the surface in the saine plane as the valve-seat, the valve-chestl having a vertical opening into it at one end for the steam, and a flat surface on the top for the connection of the steam-pipe and a vertical opening through the other end of the steam-chest corresponding to a vertical opening into the exhaust-chamber above the cylinder, the top of `ports connecting to the ends of the cylinders and ports opening down into the exhaustchamber, the parts being cast together and the top surface dressed off in a plane to'form the valve-seats and to receive the steam-chest, in combination with the valves and a steamchest with the upper and lower edges of the` chest dressedoif in parallel'planes, the steamchest having at the top and at one end an opening for receiving the vertical steam-pipe and an opening through the other end for the exhaust, the exhaust-pipe being connected tothe top of the chest and a separate removable cover to the valve-chest and bolts for securing the saine and nthe valve-chest to the casting containing the engine-cylinders and the valve-seats, substantially as set forth.

Signed by me this 1th day of August, 1898.

GEORGE DE LAVAL.

Vitnesses:

ALVAH F. DOLE, JOHN .T FnNLnY 

